JuLy 24, 1902] 
NATURE 211 
J 
collection, Peabody Museum, by J. L. Wortman. The present 
instalment contains details of Stzopa minor, Stnopa major, 
together with observations upon the marsupial or metatherian 
relationships of the Creodonts. A summary of the results 
obtained for the whole series of Eocene Carnivora in the Marsh 
collection is appended.—New exposures of eruptive dikes in 
Syracuse, by P. L. Schneider.—Petrography of recently dis- 
covered dikes in Syracuse, N.Y., with note on the presence of 
melelite in the Green Street dike, by C. H. Smyth, jun.—The 
significance of certain Cretaceous outliers in the Klamath 
region, California, by O. H. Hershey.—The action of copper 
sulphate upon iron meteorites, by O. C. Farrington.—The 
classification of meteorites as active and passive towards 
solutions of copper sulphate, as given by Wohler, is shown to 
be untenable. The rapidity with which the copper is deposited 
upon a thoroughly cleaned surface appears to decrease with the 
increase of the percentage of nickel, the temperature remaining 
constant, and hence meteoric iron, which always contains 
nickel, may be readily distinguished from terrestrial iron by this 
reagent.—A petrographical contribution to the geology of the 
eastern townships of the province of Quebec, by J. A. Dresser. 
—The action of carbon dioxide upon the borates of barium, by 
L. C. Jones. A criticism of the method for estimating boric 
acid of Morse and Burton.—Studies in the Cyperacez, by T. 
Holm. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, June 19.—‘“‘ On the Correlation between the 
Barometric Height at Stations on the Eastern Side of the 
Atlantic.” By Miss F. E. Cave-Brown-Cave, Research Student 
of Girton College, Cambridge, with some assistance from Karl 
Pearson, F.R.S., University College, London. 
In a memoir on the correlation and variation of the baro- 
metric height at divers stations in the British Isles by Prof. Karl 
Pearson and Dr. Alice Lee, it is suggested (i.) that interesting 
results might be obtained by correlating the barometer at 
stations on the east and west sides of the Atlantic, allowing an 
interval of time between the observations (see Phil. Trans. 
vol. cxc. A, p. 459); and (ii.) that with a certain distance 
between stations, the correlation would be found to be negative, 
i.e. a high barometer at the one station corresponding to a 
low barometer at the second (see p. 467). 
In order to deal with these points, steps were taken in 1897 
to collect the necessary material. Twenty years, 1879-1898 
inclusive, were selected for consideration, and the early morning 
barometric observations for these years, copied from material 
provided by the kindness of the British and other Meteorological 
Offices. 
A preliminary study has been made of the East Atlantic 
stations, and this has impressed us with the desirability of con- 
tinuing, if possible, our chain of stations right down the west 
coast of Africa, even to the Cape. The great mass of material 
to be dealt with, and the many new problems which arise in an 
almost entirely novel investigation of this kind, have meant, of 
course, very slow progress, and while publication of the final 
conclusions must be delayed for some time yet, it seems desir- 
able to draw attention to a few of the results already reached for 
the East Atlantic stations. 
In the first place it was soon discovered that the winter and 
summer months (equinox to equinox) must be treated separately. 
It was already known that the average height varied consider- 
ably in the summer and winter months, but there are also very 
significant differences in the variability, and, in what we are 
most concerned with, the correlation. For example, there is 
hardly any correlation (0°04) between Lisbon and Valencia in 
the summer, but in the winter it is quite considerable (0°22). 
Further, the results worked out in two groups of ten years each, 
show that very sensible differences in mean, variation, and 
correlation can exist between one decade and the next, so that 
at least twenty and probably more years are desirable if we are 
to obtain steady values for the barometric constants. In the 
next place, while we have found a small but sensible cross 
Atlantic barometric correlation after a definite interval of time, 
we must wait for more complete American data, and for still 
closer investigation of the best interval for different stations 
NO. 1708, VOL. 66] 
before results on this point are published. The second sug- 
gestion, however, has been amply verified, and to draw attention 
to this is the principal object of the present preliminary notice. 
As we go generally south from any station, we reach a point 
at which for readings on the same day there is no correlation at 
all. For stations beyond this point the correlation becomes 
negative, reaches a negaiive maximum, and then begins to 
decrease. Clearly it must reach a second zero. What happens 
after this? Does the correlation remain zero for all greater 
distances? To fully answer this problem we must obtain data 
south of Sierra Leone—in fact, we want data for St. Helena, 
Ascension, and the Cape, and have taken steps to obtain them. 
Thus Valencia is positively correlated with Bdéd¢g. Lisbon, 
however, is negatively correlated with Bédg, but positively with 
Valencia, We require to go as far south as Funchal to find a 
negative correlation with Valencia. To get a negative correla- 
tion with Lisbon we must go as far as Sierra Leone, which has 
become positive again for both Bgddé and Valencia. At St. 
Helena we have our second negative correlation zone for both 
Bédg and Valencia, while we are only in the second positive 
zone for Lisbon. In other words, the curve of barometric 
correlation with distance from a station appears to give roughly 
the form :— 
S 
We do not find with increasing distance a diminishing corre- 
lation, as of a curve rapidly asymptoting to o x, but as it were 
a wave-curve of diminishing amplitude. There is not apparently 
an area of positive correlation surrounded by a field of zero 
correlation, but going south there are only fozits of zero corre- 
lation, not vegzovs of zero correlation. Probably if the area of 
investigation can be extended we shall find /ées not zones of 
zero correlation round each station, separating districts of posi- 
tive and negative correlation. What we are certain about is, 
that a zone of positive correlation is followed by a zone of 
negative correlation. What we are less sure about is, that this 
negative zone is again followed by a positive zone of much less 
intensity, but our rather meagre results certainly suggest it. 
Full numerical data are given in the paper for Bddd, Skudes- 
nes, Valencia, Lisbon and Funchal, and less complete data for 
Sierra Leone and St. Helena. 
We hope shortly to complete our calculations to the Cape, 
and then to finish the work already begun on the American 
stations. Meanwhile, we think that the correlation of a series 
of stations following roughly a parallel of latitude across Europe 
and Russian Asia would throw a flood of light on whether a 
chain of roughly north and south stations differs wholly in 
character from a chain of east and west stations. The magni- 
tude of the computations, however, almost precludes the idea 
that any individual worker or workers can hope to complete 
such a task within a reasonable period. 
DUBLIN. 
Royal Dublin Society, June 18.—The Right Rev. Mon- 
signor Molloy in the chair.—Prof. J. Joly, F.R.S., communi- 
cated a paper by Mr. W. B. Wright, of the Geological Survey, 
on some results of glacial drainage round Montpelier Hill, co. 
Dublin. At the lowest point of the ridge which connects the 
outstanding hill of Montpelier with the main mass of the Dublin 
Mountains to the south is a dry, transverse gap, connecting the 
valleys on either side ; this gap cuts directly across the junction 
of the granite and slate, and has apparently no reference to the 
structure of the rock in which it is excavated. The occurrence 
in one of the side valleys of a thick deposit of gravels, ending in 
a fairly straight line on the Boulder Clay plain, which stretches 
up to its mouth, is suggestive of the occurrence in this valley, 
during the later stages of the decay of the ice sheet, of an ice- 
dammed lake which had its overflow channel through the gap. 
The gravel is composed for the most part of limestone and other 
material foreign to the ice sheet, indicating that the depositing 
waters flowed mainly from the ice sheet. At the other end of 
the gap are some mounds of granite and slaty material, probably 
the débris from it. Ata subsequent period the drainage appears 
